The Expansion of the Russian Empire

Abstract

The Soviet Union today occupies one-sixth of the earth’s land surface. It is the largest political entity, the most extensive contiguous empire on earth (more than twice the size of the USA). In 1989 it had a population of 287 million people embracing one hundred different ethnic groups, speaking eighty different languages, writing in five different alphabets, and although (unti11990) officially atheist, practicing Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and several versions of Christianity. While Russia is a wealthy country (it probably leads the world in mineral and fossil fuel resources and has an enormous industrial base and a skilled work force) it has many drawbacks. Much of its abundant land is uninhabitable (one third of it lies outside the temperate zone). Water transportation is limited. For much of the year the northern ports are frozen; the Siberian rivers flow northward into the Arctic Ocean; the warm water ports of the Black Sea are bottled up by the Bosphorus and the Turks. Miamily, Russia may still be considered a superpower; economically, the Soviet Union is at a considerable disadvantage.